Lioness
by skyewardfitzsimmonsphilinda
Summary: For this prompt: "Set somewhere in the future after 1x19, the kiss they had went a little too far and Skye finds herself pregnant after she learns Ward is with HYDRA."
1. Steel

Skye huddled in the bathroom, shivering as she stood before the mirror barefoot. She stared down at the test result in disbelief, taking down the two bars that indicated the world crashing down around her ears.

She could remember the night—the last night she could remember being happy.

The night before she found out the truth.

_Ward had knocked on her door, carrying two glasses and a bottle of scotch. "I'm here to take you up on that drink," he said, grinning a bit awkwardly. Skye had curled onto her bed, smiling up at him mischievously. _

"_In my bedroom, tin man?" she teased. "How scandalous." _

"_I—I, um," Ward had stared at the ground, and he looked so lost, she had grabbed his hand. "We should—talk," he had tried to continue, and his eyes had looked so dark for a moment Skye say up a little straighter. "I—maybe we're going too fast." _

"_Too fast?" she had laughed. "We've been bunking on the same plane for months, Ward. Pretty sure you need to look up the word fast in a dictionary, too." _

_He had grinned, taking a seat next to her, but then his face hardened again. "But—you're so… so good," he had said softly. "And you deserve"—_

"_A choice, Ward," she had interrupted. "I deserve a choice, and I choose you. And you're a good man, Grant Ward. A great man." _

_And then he was kissing her frantically as if he could somehow breathe her in her words would somehow be true for him, somehow change the way things were—_

Oh, Skye, you fool.

The man was a monster. A monster who killed innocent people out of loyalty to another monster.

_What have I done? _

Skye sank to the floor of the bathroom, and before she knew it, her whole body was shaking with sobs.

She tried to stifle them, before remembering that her broken teamhad all found their own ways to cope, far from her. Coulson was holed up with the buoyant little man that Fury had sent here, May was taking out her unadulterated rage on a punching bag, Triplett was pacing and cursing near the entrance to the safe house, and Fitz was holding a crying Simmons in the lab.

_Pull it together, Skye. You always do. _

She gripped the edge of the counter and pulled herself to her feet. When she glanced into the mirror, she barely recognized the person she saw. Her eyes, red from crying, looked out fiercely from under her ruffled hair.

_I have a child, _she reminded herself. _I'm carrying a child, and it's _my_ child. _Briefly she thought of the agent—Linda Avery—who had died keeping her safe. _I will be a lioness for the sake of this child. A lioness like you, Linda Avery. _

Skye squared her shoulders and dumped the test into the garbage.

She strode through the common room into the workout room, where May was still frantically hitting the punching bag.

She looked up when she saw Skye, her eyes softening slightly. "You okay?" she asked, her cold voice momentarily gentle.

But Skye had no more pity to spare for herself. "I need you to arm me," she said briskly. "I need a knife, a bulletproof vest, and at least two handguns."

"We don't have enough of the night-night guns"—

"I wasn't talking about the night-night guns," Skye said, her voice blank of emotion.

May looked at her sharply. "For him?"

"I'm not doing anything for him," Skye said coldly, but her voice shook as she said the words. "Not anymore." Her hands closed over her stomach. "I have someone else to fight for."

May's eyes widened in astonishment, and then she nodded quickly. "His?"

"Yes."

May turned and strode briskly down the hallway, beckoning Skye to follow. "They told me there was no weapon reserve here," she said over her shoulder, and then kicked in a door to her left. "They lied."

May flung open a trunk at the back of the room, and then ripped the bottom out recklessly, revealing a store of guns of different sizes. "Know how to shoot?"

"He taught me," Skye said, trying to maintain her indifferent tone.

"He loves you, you know," May said unexpectedly, and Skye's head jerked up.

"What"—

"He does, and he followed that son of a bitch anyway," May said through her teeth. "And he destroyed us. Hurt you. And for that I will never forgive him." Instead of handing Skye the weapons, she strapped them to Skye's body herself.

Skye nodded silently. _I have a warrior on my side. Just not the one I thought. _

May held out a small knife that sent a shiver through Skye's spine. "Strap it to your thigh," May told her, eyes alight with suppressed anger. Abruptly, she pulled Skye into her arms, whispering before she released her. "Make them pay for it, my girl. Make them pay for it."


	2. Courage

The next time she saw Grant Ward, Skye's entire team had been captured. It had been three weeks since May had armed her, and she had been practicing with the guns May had given her in one of the underground rooms, while her team had struggled futilely upstairs without her knowledge.

Skye had tracked them—when she had come upstairs and found overturned furniture and smashed com systems, and the spattered blood on the floor near the entrance had snapped her heart in two, she had put all her energies into tracking the whereabouts of her team.

And it had all led her here, to a base 200 miles north of the safe house.

_Lioness, Skye,_ she told herself. _For Coulson, for May, for Fitzsimmons and Triplett and everything that is good in this world. And for this child. _

Skye's best estimate was that she was about six weeks pregnant, and she knew the dangers that stress and combat could have on this pregnancy.

_If harm comes to this child, there is nothing that will stop be from putting this knife through Grant Ward's eye. _

But even as she thought the words, Skye felt her heart rupturing again. _He loved me. He did, and he left anyway. _She could remember the board games, the was his whole face would light up when he laughed, the way he couldn't resist her tickling but would probably destroy anyone else who tried to touch him.

And then another thought struck her. _You loved me. I know that. So what kind of hell must you be in that you would choose to stay with John Garrett? _

Skye's fingers found the knife May had given her, and she steeled herself. _I will do what I need to_, she told herself. _I will protect this baby even if it means I destroy everything else. Even him. _

It was easier than it should have been to get in. Skye had been taught by the best, and one by one they fell, silently. _Right uppercut, follow with left jab, and then one to the gut…_

The guards were on the ground, unconscious, and Skye was in, a gun in each hand. The first people she met inside were guards—three of them, guns pointed but not firing. They must have orders not to shoot.

Too bad she didn't.

She shot the gun out of the hand of the first one, kneed the second, and slashed her handgun across the face of the third, and then moved forward without a look behind her.

She knew her team was being kept—she had cracked their feeds, and then turned them off, unable to bear the sight of May bloodied and battered, Fitzsimmons clutching each other in terror, Triplett too broken to sit up, and Coulson, Coulson bleeding and still standing, standing between Garrett and his team…

When Skye pushed open the door to the inner room, they were all there. Waiting for her.

Ward stood in front of her, gun pointed at her heart. Behind him, Garrett stood, a mocking smile on his face. His hands were covered in blood.

Fitzsimmons were huddled together still, and May, Coulson, and Triplett were bound separately, and Skye could see the last speck of hope drain from Coulson's face when he saw her enter.

"Well, well, well," Garrett said slowly, stepping in front of Ward and smiling down at her; that eerily empty smile that made her guts twist in fear. "You decided to join the party after all. Ward here wouldn't let me kill the others until you got here."

Skye looked up at Ward, her face hard. "Is that so?"

His face looked emotionless and blank, but when she saw his eyes, her heart ripped out of its chest. He mouthed something to her, his eyes pleading. _Pieces of the puzzle. _

Her words to him, so long ago.

Are you asking me to be the solution, Ward? Were you expecting me to be able to save them all?

"Put the guns down, Skye, and we won't hurt you," Garrett said, stepping closer.

"But you'll hurt them," Skye said, taking the smallest of steps back from him and leveling her gun at his chest. "And I'm not going to let that happen."

"You can't save them," Garrett laughed. "In this life, the only person you can save is yourself, Skye, so save yourself. You have a gift, Skye, and I want to know more about it."

"Let me take my team or I'll shoot you through the heart."

"Ward, shoot Agent May. In the head."

"Stop!" Skye shouted. "Okay—okay," she said breathlessly, lowering her guns slowly to the floor. "What do you want with me?"

"Ward, search her."

Ward stepped forward and shoved her roughly against the wall, then patted her down, his eyes not meeting hers. Briefly, his hand rested on her thigh. Felt the knife strapped there under her clothes. And when he looked up at her, his face hard, there was the tiniest of lights in his eyes. He gave her a nod, so slight she barely caught it, and then stepped back. "She's clean, sir."

"Good. Ward, I want you to cross the team off. Start with Coulson."

Ward swallowed hard.

_Now, Skye. Now. _

Just like May had always taught her. In one fluid motion, Skye pulled the knife out, turned it over in her hand, and sent it flying at Garrett.

Skye never missed, never, and—

Garrett spun, faster than she had seen any normal man move, and the knife lodged in his shoulder instead of his heart. He let out a grunt, but that was all, he was still standing there, threatening her team, threatening her, threatening her child—

And then John Garrett smiled, a slow, empty look that slithered across his face. "I think I was wrong about the girl, Ward," he said slowly, pulling the knife out of his shoulder and flinging it to the ground.

Behind him, May looked away, as if she couldn't bear to watch this happening.

"Shoot her."

Ward looked at Skye desperately.

"_Remember what you owe me, kid!_"

"He owes me more," Skye said suddenly, her voice so cold and black of emotion that it terrified her. "I carry his child. His son." And just as the words slipped out of her mouth, she felt the first flutter of movement inside her body. "I can feel him moving, Ward. I am carrying your son inside my body, and it will break you, _it will break you_ to see me get shot again, Ward, and that's not worth it. Not even for him."

Ward's mouth opened and no sound came out. He looked from Skye to Garrett. "I owe him everything," he said slowly. "Everything. He dragged me from hell."

"And put you in another one." It was Coulson speaking, through a bloodied, swollen mouth, and Ward struck wildly, hit him across the mouth. May tore at her bonds frantically, a sound close to a snarl coming from her mouth.

"You bastard," she shouted. "I'll kill you"—

But it was Garrett who struck Ward first. "You piece of _shit_," he screamed, his fist smashing into Ward's face, his ribs, his nose. Ward just stood there, accepting the blows, and Skye stood frozen, watching them. "You have failed this mission at every level. You deserve this—you deserve to die, you piece of shit, you _fucking piece of shit_!"

_Whatever punishment it is, I deserve it, _Ward had told her so long ago, and later, _If I do die, I deserve it. _

_Oh, Grant. Grant. What has he done to you? _

Skye looked at her team, broken and battered, but alive because Ward had never been able to complete Garrett's most important order.

Garrett threw Ward against the wall, where he sagged as Garrett through another fist to his gut. Skye thought she heard a rib crack.

What had May said? _I'll never forgive him. Make them pay for it. _

And she should. She shouldn't care that Ward was beaten and bloody and for all his strength, he wasn't fighting back. Ward was a monster who had made the wrong choice at every opportunity. She should make him pay. She should make them both pay for what they had done.

Skye lifted the knife in her hand, unnoticed by Garrett or Ward.

She looked to May, who nodded fiercely.

And then Skye looked to Coulson. It had been so long ago—back when she had sold out their team for Miles—and Coulson had taken her back. Forgiven her. What had he said, all those lifetimes ago?

_Maybe you can save someone from themselves, if you get to them early enough. _

She could put the knife through Ward's eye. She could send a bullet through Garrett's back. She could free her team.

"Grant," she said softly, and Garrett's fist paused mid-strike. The whole room stopped, suspended in a fragile moment of time. "Grant," she said again, and Ward looked at her through swollen, battered eyes. "I still deserve a choice." _Lioness, Skye. Or maybe courage isn't about the ability to kill. Linda Avery's most courageous choice was dying for me, not fighting for me. So maybe courage was never about being able to fight Grant Ward… _

"Skye," Ward moaned, staggering to his feet. "Skye…"

"I choose you, Grant," she said softly, and the whole room held its breath. "So who do you choose?"

And then Garrett was standing, his gun pointed at Skye, and the report of the gunshot sent out a tremor that seemed to shake the room, and then—


	3. Choice

_"Skye," Ward moaned, staggering to his feet. "Skye…"_

_"I choose you, Grant," she said softly, and the whole room held its breath. "So who do you choose?" _

_And then Garrett was standing, his gun pointed at Skye, and the report of the gunshot sent out a tremor that seemed to shake the room, and then— _

It was Ward who moved—jumped, staggered desperately and took the bullet—the bullet meant for her—and fell—down—down—down—

Skye could hear herself screaming and there was a hole in Ward's stomach that was blossoming red and Skye felt her child kicking in protest because this was wrong, all wrong—

She didn't think. She reacted.

Wrist bent, fingers clenched, release.

And the knife was buried in Garrett's eye socket before he knew what had hit him.

Skye didn't even look over her shoulder at Garrett's fallen body. In a second, she was bent over Ward, cradling him in her arms. "No no no Ward no please hang on please hang on"—

Ward's head lolled back on Skye's arm and her tears were falling on his face—

"Skye," Jemma's voice interrupted her. "Let us free and we can help him."

Skye staggered to her feet, yanked the knife out of Garrett's eye and ran to Fitzsimmons. She slashed their bonds recklessly, making Fitz yelp in fear, but she didn't care.

Ward—her Ward—was bleeding out, was dying, and she couldn't save him. After all this, after all her anger, after everything, if she couldn't save him then what was the point of it all? Skye released Coulson next, and the four of them half-carried, half-dragged Ward through the door. May and Triplett followed, May grabbing the weapons and Triplett covering their backs as they ran from the building.

Skye's hands were covered in blood. _Ward. Ward. Oh, God, Ward, please don't die please don't die. _She gripped her wrist, and felt his pulse, faintly fluttering against her fingers, and its ragged beat felt like the only thing holding her to life.

_Back at the safe house. _

_Critical condition…_

_Might not make it…_

_Took a shot to the gut…_

"Skye?" Coulson put a hand on her shoulder. She was bent over Ward's bed. "Simmons stabilized him, but we have no way of knowing"—

"I just got him back, AC," she said, lifting her chin stubbornly. "Don't tell me I'm going to lose him now."

Coulson smiled a little sadly, and turned to leave.

"Skye." May's voice turned her around. The woman was standing in battle stance, hips spread and guns in her hand. She paused, looked down. Skye had never seen May struggle with finding words before. "That was the bravest thing I've ever seen."

Skye's eyebrows rose. "Knifing Garrett?"

"Saving him." May shook her head, a hint of a smile touching her eyes. "I should've known that if anyone could save him, it was you."

This time it was Skye that pulled May into a hug, and the older agent did not resist.

When May stepped back, she looked down at Ward, whose battered body lay motionless on the bed. "I still haven't forgiven him," she said abruptly, but her eyes were soft when she looked at Skye. "But maybe you can show me how."

May turned and disappeared down the hall, leaving them alone.

"All we can do now is wait and see," Simmons had told her, but Skye didn't think she could.

Gently, Skye laced her fingers through Ward's hand. "Grant," she whispered softly. "Grant, we need you to come back._ Please_. Our son needs you." Gently, she moved Ward's hand until it covered her abdomen, where their child moved again. "And I don't just need you, Grant. I want you."

She fell asleep like that, Ward's motionless hand covering their child, her hand covering his.

And when she awoke hours later it was to the sound of a hope; hope in the softest of whispers—

_"I choose you."_


End file.
